Confrontation

When someone says or does something that bothers you, how do you handle it? If you’re like most people, you keep your mouth shut, do nothing, and then go complain to your friends. If you’re like a few people, you get angry and do damage to the relationship by ineffective confrontation designed around winning rather than around reconciliation. Is there another way? A Biblical way? And do we have the right to not confront people when they’re wrong? But what about getting the story straight? Should witnesses be allowed to be anonymous? What are the rules for all of this stuff?

Post-Show Thoughts: This is one of the most important things people are missing in their relationships: the awareness of the benefits of confrontation and the skill to do it successfully. The decision to confront forces you into the practice that will cultivate the ability to do it better. Pray, get your heart right, forgive, be humble, listen, and always be seeking to achieve reconciliation and relationship in a loving manner. There is simply no other acceptable Biblical option for us. Any relationship which can be broken by right-hearted Biblical confrontation isn’t a relationship worth worrying too much about losing. Every fracture in a relationship is an opportunity forced upon us to either reduce the quality of it or to significantly improve the quality of it. And the real reward of relationships which are open and successful because they have endured such opportunities is unquantifiably large.

Bible References: Lev 19:16-18, Deut 19:15, Matt 6:9-15, Matt 18:15-20, Luke 17:1-10, John 13:34-35, John 15:12, John 15:17, 1 Cor 6:1-8, 1 Cor 13:4, 2 Cor 13:1, Gal 6:1-3, 1 Thess 5:14-15, 2 Thess 3:6, 2 Thess 3:14-16, 1 Tim 5:19, 1 John 2:8-11, 1 John 3:15, 1 John 4:19-21, James 5:19-20

Weblinks
Christian Confrontation by Covenant Fellowship Church
A Time to Confront by Peacemaker.net
Biblical Confrontation and Church Discipline by Brent Cunningham
Biblical Confrontation and Restoration by TimelessWord.com